


Five Nights

by cardboardhydrates



Series: The Coals That Remain [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Non-Sgrub AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 05:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19969039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardboardhydrates/pseuds/cardboardhydrates
Summary: Feferi has five nights until the her fight to the death with Her Imperial Condescension, and yeah, so everyone who's done this before has died horribly, but that doesn't mean that she'll die too! Right?





	Five Nights

Only five nights left.

Five nights until Conscription. Five nights left in the seas of Alternia that she loved so much, five nights before she would officially become an adult. Five nights until Feferi could challenge Her Imperial Condescension for the throne.

Five nights before she either killed the most powerful troll that had ever existed, or was killed herself.

Feferi stilled, comb in her hair, staring at her reflection. At her hair, floating lazily in the water around her, the beautiful, luscious hair that she had grown out for years and had always been so proud of. It got in her way sometimes, living underwater, but she had always loved the way it looked drifting in the sea.

And all she could see was her Ancestor staring back at her.

She made a face, going for something silly or ridiculous, but instead seeing nothing but the Condense sneering at her.

Five nights.

Kill or be killed.

Her hands trembled, and she set the comb down on the vanity, looking away from her reflection.

Could she kill a living, breathing troll?

Could she look someone in the eye as she pierced their flesh with her trident, listen as they took their last breath, spat out their last words along with the blood and spittle leaking from their lips?

Or worse, what if she could do it, and do it easily? What if it was in her nature all along and once she killed she wouldn’t be able to stop herself, and would continue the cycle of hate and violence all over again?

Did she even need to worry about that? She was simply the latest in a long line of Heiresses who had all challenged Her Imperial Condescension and failed. Hundreds of other girls just like her, killed in a flash, in barely a thought, forgotten by the universe after a few measly sweeps.

What chance did she stand, when hundreds of others had failed?

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought from her head. If she let herself think like that, she might as well give up now.

If she gave up now…

If she left the planet, spent the rest of her days hiding in space. Alive, hands unbloodied, free from the burden of ruling an intergalactic empire, of keeping her lusus from wiping out her entire race.

Her hair hung heavy around her, surrounding her, constantly in sight no matter where she looked or turned. She could feel the strands, slickened with oil, coiling around her neck like a noose.

Five nights until she died.

Snarling, Feferi grabbed clumps of her hair and pulled it back, piling it into a messy, half-assed bun that looked awful, but once she could no longer feel it touching her neck, could move her head without seeing it hover around her, she felt the panic subside.

She couldn’t possibly abandon her duty. If she ran away, she was condemning all trolls everywhere to a continued lifetime of servitude to her monster of an Ancestor. Her friends would be forced into service, some of them enslaved, some forced to kill poor innocent aliens in the name of conquest. That was, if they weren’t culled outright, either for their disabilities, their rebellious leanings, or maybe even just because they were associated with her.

To save her friends, to save her entire race, to save the lives of thousands of aliens races that were being conquered, even wiped out entirely by the designs of Her Imperial Condescension. She had to meet this fight head on, and she had to win, had to kill her own Ancestor.

Feferi gingerly picked up her tiara and placed it on her head, clasping it into place, and looked into the mirror again. Somehow, with her hair no longer hanging loose and her tiara back in place, she looked less like the Condense and more like herself. More like a princess.

She picked up her trident and swam quickly over to her personal training grounds. She had a lot of work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> If I don't start posting SOMETHING from this story I'm gonna scream so have a short prequel bit while I bully myself into posting more of it.


End file.
